The growth of the hair and aging of the skin are causally related to the hormone balance of the body. Hair loss happens primarily to men, but sometimes to women as well, after major changes in the hormone balance, for instance after pregnancy or after treatment with certain medicines.
Numerous preparations and many sources in the literature for means for regenerating the hair and skin are known. Such agents, for promoting hair growth or tightening the skin, are usually based on alcohols or oils and can be roughly divided into three groups, depending on the active ingredients they contain:
(1) Hormones, in particular steroids, such as testosterone, in accordance with German Pat. No. 16 17 857; combinations of estrogens and progestogens in accordance with European Pat. application No. 33 164; human placenta lactogen in accordance with German Pat. Disclosure Document DE-OS 25 40 971.
(2) Vitamins such as biotin (vitamin H), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and similar compounds, such as choline and betaine, in accordance with Examined German application No. DE-AS 1 007 957.
(3) Agents which promote blood flow to the scalp, such as horse chestnut extract, in accordance with German Pat. Disclosure Document No. DE-OS 14 92 193; horseradish extract and extract of mustard seeds in accordance with German Pat. Disclosure Document No. DE-OS 30 39 281; alcohol extracts of capsicum in accordance with German Pat. Disclosure Document No. DE-OS 26 49 846; and similar material
Other known agents are extract of burning nettles, birch sap, cholesterol and the like, although given the great number of proposals that have been made, the above list cannot be complete
According to what is now known (see K. Schrader, Grundlagen und Rezepturen der Cosmetica [Cosmetics: Fundamentals and Formulations], 1979), although certain successes are attained with agents containing hormones, nevertheless side effects occur in the long term.
Merely looking at the German patent literature alone, it would seem that all hair problems have been solved to complete satisfaction. However, the professional literature in the field and those suffering from these problems express precisely the opposite view. Both the professional literature and the sufferers agree that no reliable agent for regenerating hair growth and for regenerating the skin exists. The agents still used up to now with some success contain steroids, which have serious long-term side-effects.
An effective biological agent for regenerating the hair and skin is also described in German Pat. No. 32 42 446. This is an extract based on skin-compatible alcohols or oils as agents for extracting from a mixture of non-toxic basidia fungi and insect larvae that feed on fungi typically the receptacles of the fungi, which are the above ground or visible portions of mushrooms, for example mushroom heads, as well as their products of metabolism. A method for preparing this agent is also disclosed. However, it has been found that, according to the information given there, the preparation of an effective agent that is of constant quality and always has a high content of active ingredients is not assured in all cases.